Insurance Policy
by Uncle Charlie
Summary: Sapphire and Steel are summoned to a small village that is empty and protected by large white orbs. Their assignment is a mystery until one of the orbs starts to talk. Crossed with The Prisoner (1967). Written for the August prompt in Element Flash


Steel picked his way carefully along the flagstone path. Once it might have been a pleasant street to stroll down, but now the weeds and debris made it more of an obstacle course. There was no doubt about it; weeds were nature's success story. They found the tiniest crack and flourished, splitting rock and crumbling buildings. Time and weeds has a lot in common and both of them irritated him to his core at the moment. He picked up a stone and cradled it in his palm.

Sapphire walked down the path, her gaze seemingly everywhere at once. "I am struck by the palette. The buildings are so colorful."

"I'm struck by the fact that you are still upright. How do you walk in those things?" Steel glared down at the high heels Sapphire wore. She balanced on them easily and didn't seem bothered by the uneven surface.

"Lots of practice," she admitted and then she smiled a little impishly. "Besides I like being taller than you." Steel made a face and she laughed. "Where are we, Steel?"

"That is the question I usually put to you."

The buildings were a hodgepodge of styles and periods. There seemed no real rhyme or reason to their placement. Some were brightly colored, others were more sedate but with vibrant trim. All carried some form of ornamentation: a mermaid, a unicorn or some long-forgotten coat of arms.

Most of the structures were plaster and stucco. Both time and weather had taken their toll on them. Still, it was possible to pick out a town center, a small park, even an overgrown swimming pool. All was edged by a tall forest on one side and a long flood plain on the other. Birds sang, the breeze plucked at their hair, and everything was serene and pleasant.

Sapphire touched a low stone wall and looked out on what must have once been a small park. There was a colonnade to one side and a small pond, longer since overgrown. She turned away and let her finger trail over the rough stucco of a brightly-hued building. "I have no idea. I am getting such conflicting impressions."

"Meaning?"

"These buildings, some are very old, some have been made to look old while others have been renovated."

"Artificially aged?"

"Yes, and yet none of them are from here."

Steel sighed and tossed the rock back to the ground. "You are speaking in riddles, Sapphire."

"When a town is built, it is usually from surrounding materials. We have a forest to one side, but not a single wood structure that I can see. Just stone and not local stone, either, and iron. All these building, they seem to be from somewhere else and moved here."

Steel asked suddenly. "Is that the anomaly reported?"

"Not likely. This place hasn't been occupied for quite some time." Sapphire reached out and dragged her forefinger across a window ledge. It left a path in the dust and she rubbed her fingers together. "Nothing outstanding in its makeup: pollen, silica, sodium chloride, animal and bird dander, dead insect parts… how strange." Sapphire looked down at her fingers. "Very strange, indeed."

Steel paused in mid-step, his defenses up. "Sapphire?"

"Much of what we consider dust is, in fact, composed of flakes of human skin, but there is none in this dust. It is completely devoid of anything human."

"Impossible. Someone must have built this. Where are the people?"

"I don't know, but they are long gone. Perhaps a sample from inside a building will give us a clue a better clue. Out here the element could have washed away any trace, but inside the dust would be protected."

Steel paused in front of smeared window pane. "Store." He read the gold stylized words aloud. "That's peculiar."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you ever noticed how people like to put clever names to things by way of claiming ownership to them? Apparently, the buildings here have escaped that trend." He pointed to another sign which read _restaurant_ and a third one that proclaim it was the _labour exchange_.

He pushed aside the door and stepped inside. It was dusty and smelled of mildew. Steel waved the cobwebs aside as he walked to the counter and picked up a long forgotten tin can. "Sapphire, what are your thoughts on this?"

Sapphire was at his side in a moment. The can label simply read _Corn._ This proved the case with all the other items still standing, silent and forgotten. There was a straightforward, nondescript label which stated content and nothing else. "I see what you mean." She lifted on and her eyes glowed for a moment. "It is exactly what it says it is. Whatever the disturbance in this time web is, it is not this."

Steel turned and went back out. He stared out over the town, then up at a tarnished dome. "Then what? There isn't anyone here," he said to the sky. It refused to answer.

He wandered down a gravel path, his brow furrowed in thought. This whole place was a mystery and he didn't like mysteries. He liked things clean and straightforward. Time liked to make everything a puzzle and he was tired of it.

Turquoise-colored metal fencing poked out from dense shrubs and brightly colored hydrangea. Even unattended they provided a spectacular explosion of blues and reds. There were matching iron benches, the paint rusted and chipped. Steel resisted the urge to sit down and surrender to the bucolic feel of the place. It was as if the air was permanently suffused with some sort of tranquilizing agent. He happened to glance down just then and spotted something very out of place.

_Sapphire?_

_Yes, Steel._

_I was wrong. There is someone._

_Where are you?_

_In the square._

She hurried to where Steel stood looking down into a bramble. A long bone was just barely visible from beneath the leaves.

"Perhaps the people didn't leave after all." Steel bent to push the foliage aside, searching for more bones.

"Yet these buildings do not appear to have suffered damage in a war. They are in disrepair, but from Nature's hand, not from weapon fire."

Steel knelt and pulled the bone from the weeds. The underside of it was nearly black, but the side facing the sun was bleached white. "I know it's distasteful, but…" He offered her the bone.

She nodded, smiling tightly. With a sigh, she placed her fingers on the bone and her eyes brightened. Her voice took on a slightly mechanic tone as she spoke. "Male, approximately 42 years old, Caucasian."

"Cause of death?"

"Unable to verify." She dropped her hand. "It has been here for a long time." Then Sapphire froze as a voice touched just the fringes of her mind. _Tired, so very tired. _"Steel, we are not alone here."

"People?" He looked around, but saw no indication of life other than the birds that flitted from branch to branch and the rabbits that hopped from one thicket to the next.

"No."

"Then what? Sapphire, we have to know…"

She held up her hand, palm out towards him and he paused. _Who are you? _

The voice that responded was weak. _Guardians. Who are you that you speak to us?_

_Also guardians. Who are you protecting?_

_All gone but one._

_Who is gone? The people? You?_

_Yes._

_Where are you?_

_Here. Always here._

Sapphire shook her head as if to break the connection. "It speaks in riddles. It calls itself a guardian."

"What is it guarding?" Steel continued to study the immediate vicinity, looking for a hint of movement.

"That would be one of the aforementioned riddles. It only replied that all were gone but one."

"Then there is someone here? How many way are there out of this place? Do you know?"

"Two. There is a road, but it is choked with trees and presently impassable. The other would be by the sea. We do not possess a boat, but it appears walkable when the tide is out. "

"If it is protecting someone and the only viable path of approach is the sea, I suggest that we start our search there."

"How would you suggest we get down there?" From where she stood, it was a straight drop of about forty feet.

"There is a path." Steel gestured to a rusted sign, _To the shore_. An arrow pointed to a path carved from the side of the hill on which the town was perched.

"Steel, have you noticed something?"

"I have noticed quite a few things. What in particular are you referencing?"

"The script. It's the same on everything. The store, the cans, that sign and even these wall plaques." She gestured to the plaque on the side of a building. "A calm mind is a happy mind," she read aloud.

_I would argue the point. _ Steel offered her his arm as the path steepened.

"Never the less, the script is the same."

As they neared the shore, Sapphire paused and her footwear shifted to something more suitable for walking on the sand. Steel cautiously stepped upon it and frowned. "The surface is hard packed."

"How odd." Before them a large expanse of sand, flecked with shells, spread out. There were small streams of water trickling here and there, as if the sea had stretched out spectral fingers to lay its claim.

They walked slowly, cautiously, until it became obvious that the sand provided a suitable surface. Sapphire looked back to the small town. It looked so peaceful and serene, as if no more than sleeping.

The roar screamed through her head a split second before it assaulted her ears. She could tell by Steel's reaction that he had heard it as well.

"What was that?"

"Look!" Steel pointed to a white sphere that bounced along the sand. Its surface flexed and billowed as if breathing.

_Escape! Escape_! The words exploded in Sapphire's head and her hands flew to her ears. There was a responding roar as a second sphere joined the first. They were head straight in their direction.

"Sapphire, get behind me." Steel managed to bark out the command just before one of the spheres enveloped him, cutting off air from his lungs, attempting to make him compliant. _Too bad I don't need to breathe,_ Steel thought, and he let his temperature drop. _Let's see if they like the cold._

There was a responding roar and the white surface invaded his mouth and nose, but it was sluggish at the bitter cold of Steel's skin began to take effect. _Amateur. Sapphire, are you still free?_

_I am, for the moment._

_Do you have access to a rock or a stick?_

_I do._

_Strike the globe, please._

Sapphire watched the second sphere. It had stopped a short distance away, obvious the second line of defense, if need be. She would have to move quickly.

She bent, scooped by the rock and threw it all in one movement. With a roar, the sphere attacked her. It was an odd sensation to be engulfed and feel her body start to compress. A mind numbing cold began to invade her mind and then suddenly she was free.

Steel stood before her, his skin grey and glistening in the sun. Around her were the shattered remains of the sphere. For a moment, she just stood, happy to have the warmth on her face again.

"Steel, are you all right?"

"C-c-c-old," he stuttered.

"We need to get you warmed up." Sapphire looked around. "There's a small house a short distance from here. I see a chimney. I can make a fire and we'll warm you up." She ached to reach out and help him, but knew it would be deadly if she tried.

"All g-g-one?"

"I don't know." She took a step from him, away from the cold that tainted the air and closed her eyes. _Are you still there?_

_What are you? _

Sapphire looked around and saw another sphere, hovering close to the cliffs that towered above them.

_I told you. We are guardians. We are here to help. We won't let anything into your town._

_We do not protect from without, but from within._

"Within?" she repeated out loud.

Steel nodded tightly. He was starting to thaw a little. "They aren't here to keep people out. They are here to keep them in by any means possible. They are this place's insurance policy."

_Now just one._

Sapphire's eyes widened. "Steel, I think he has someone trapped."

"Are you sensing life?"

"No." She took a step towards the sphere and it retreated further back again the cliff face.

"You can't catch it," Steel mumbled.

"What do you suggest?"

"Make it come to us. It's programmed to keep you from escaping."

Sapphire nodded and headed for the horizon. The roar was weaker, but the sphere gave chase. It never stood a chance and it seemed to know that. As it collapsed into a thousand or more pieces, Sapphire gasped. "Steel, there was someone inside."

The man moaned and stirred on the sand. Instantly, Sapphire was beside him, offering support. "Are you all right?" A groan answered her. "Who are you?"

"I don't… I don't know." The voice was whisper soft. "So long."

"You are safe now."

The man smiled weakly and shook his head. "No… never safe… not here."

Steel drew closer, but still kept his distance. As cold as he was, a human would suffer instant frost bite if he was to be touched. "Where are we?"

"Hell." The man groaned and curled into a fetal position.

"What's wrong, Sapphire?"

"He's been in stasis for too long. He's dying."

There was a long moan and both looked back at the man. "I remember. I am… I am... free." With a shudder and one last gasp, the body seemed to crumple back on itself.

Water licked Steel's shoe and he looked to the horizon. "The tide is coming in. We need to go."

"What about him?" Sapphire looked at the deceased man.

"I think burial at sea will suit him. He can wander with the currents."

"I think he'd like that." They started back toward the small town.

"Who was he, Sapphire?"

"An ex-spy. This was a spot that was specially built for people the various governments of the world felt were too dangerous or too at risk to be left on their own."

"Which was he?" Steel looked back. The body was nearly covered with a shimmering blanket of water now.

"He was a paradox. They wanted the answer to one question and he told it to them again and again. Sadly, it was not the answer they wanted. He was a prisoner here, just as were the other members of this place. Kept at bay by those white spheres."

"And the rest?"

"No idea. Either dead or liberated." They walked along the path until they came to a sign that read _Old Folk's Home_. The building was a mere shell of what it had once been. "It's a pity. In its prime, this place must have been beautiful."

"Yet as we both know, a prison, no matter how lovely is still a prison." Something nudged his consciousness and he held out a hand. "They want us. Are you ready?"

"Yes, let's go home." She took it and a breath later they were gone, leaving the village to the birds and the insects and the plants.


End file.
